


War Angels

by PorcelainCats



Category: Angels of Slaughter, AoD, Satsuriku no Tenshi, angels of death - Fandom
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, Blood, Death, F/M, Fluffy Moments, Murder, Violence, War Angels AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-23
Updated: 2018-11-23
Packaged: 2019-08-28 09:19:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,484
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16720611
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PorcelainCats/pseuds/PorcelainCats
Summary: This is a Satsuriku no Tenshi AU starring Eddie and Rachel along with the other characters (who appear later in the story) surviving during a war taking place some time during the early 1860s. In my mind, I imagine it happening during the American Civil War, but because we don't know the exact country Satsuriku no Tenshi takes place, I'm leaving that open to interpretation.





	1. Chapter 1

It was dark, but clear enough that Eddie could see the blood in his saliva as he spit out a tooth into his gloved hand. Too bad, it was a canine, now his smile would be as unsymmetrical as the rest of his face, his right eye having a bandage over it. He sighed sadly as he huddled against the tree trunk, shifting the shovel in his hands as a way of distracting himself from the pain. "Did your tooth fall out?" Rachel asked, her stunningly blue and mostly expressionless eyes continuously set on the rifle that she was adjusting in her hands, keeping it aimed at an unknown target beneath the tree. Eddie studied her face from his seat on the tree branch, watching the warm puffs of air leave her slightly opened mouth as she breathed the cold night air. His heart twisted in knots as he tried to speak, "I... yeah... it did. I accidentally hit myself in the face with the handle on this thing." He looked down towards the grassy area below, trying to figure out which of the men sitting down there Rachel was aiming for. She adjusted her fingers, they were quivering a little from the cold, "What's wrong?" Eddie twirled a lock of his bangs that were covering his bandaged right eye wound, he was hesitant to confess that he was still very self conscious about his face. "I'm already uncute, now I have to worry about my teeth going missing," he huffed, frustratedly tugging on the lock of red hair. Rachel sighed, firing her bullet and hitting one of the men below, causing him to fall to the ground, he appeared to be dead. The two other men leapt up from the ground, their eyes quickly looking up at the tree that the bullet came from. Rachel quickly looked up at Eddie, her face changing to a much warmer expression than before, she gave him a smile. "I think you're very cute," she said, sweetly, causing his heart to jump in his chest. "You... really think so?" he asked, gripping his shovel as he prepared to slide off the branch and onto the ground below. She nodded in response, shifting her body to sit more comfortably on the branch as Eddie moved farther off it, continuing to keep eye contact with him, "I think you're adorable." His face became flushed with pink as it cracked into a smile, he giggled, "Aw, thank you~!"

Eddie slipped off the branch, swinging his shovel at one man's head before landing on the ground, knocking the guy out cold. He quickly turned around to face the other man, his feet standing firmly on the ground in preparation for the swing he'd have to make at his opponent, however, no one was there. Eddie glanced around, no one was in sight. He listened carefully for footsteps of any kind as he walked around the tree and noticed a silhouette running down the hill. Eddie exhaled through gritted teeth out of irritation. "Rachel," he called to her as he looked up through the tree branches, "I don't suppose you can see him from up there, can you?" It was still very dark but he could tell she was shaking her head and placed her rifle to lean on her shoulder, "Maybe if it were light out, but not like this." Eddie sighed but quickly changed to a positive tone, "Aw, well you did great before so it's not that big of a deal." 

Rachel inched her way down the tree in order to avoid falling and breaking her legs. Unlike Eddie, she couldn't nimbly land on both feet, especially not while wearing boots and holding a heavy shovel, that was a talent unique to him. Eddie stood at the bottom of the tree, holding out his arms, eagerly awaiting the chance to catch her. "Don't worry, Rachel! I'll catch you! In fact, if you fell right now, I could guarantee that you'd be safe and sound~!" he said, in a voice coated with sugar. Despite his offer, Rachel climbed to the bottom of the tree, straightening out her dress and scarf once she reached the bottom. "Oh, well that's cool too," Eddie said, a bit of disappointment in his voice. 

She pulled the strap attached to her rifle over her bandaged shoulder and started heading down the hill. Eddie's eyes widened before he started quickly following after her, "Woah, wait, where are you going?" Rachel stopped in her tracks, turned to face Eddie and pointed at a forest that started at the bottom of the hill, "In there, that's where our target went." The little bandaged boy hesitated before shaking his head, "No, no, that's not safe, we should wait until day time. You said it yourself, you can't aim properly in the dark if you're too far away and there isn't even any moonlight in there." His companion stared at him for a moment, her eyes shifting between him and the woods. Finally, she sighed, "That's true, I'm worried he'll come back though." Eddie grasped her hands and held them close to his chest, his hands were warm due to the leather gloves he was wearing, "I'll protect you, Rachel! So don't worry about him coming after you, okay~?" His eyes sparkled in the moonlight as he smiled at her. She blushed ever so slightly before shaking her head, trying to keep a straight face, "That's not what I'm worried about, I appreciate it though." 

She wasn't as worried for herself as she was for Eddie, she had a tendency to think very little of her own life and that only became more obvious when she had met Eddie three months from their current situation. He wasn't a reckless person by any means, in fact he was always very cautious, as demonstrated by the way he snuck through the shadows when he fought and his constant concern for her, Rachel couldn't help but worry for him though.

"Oh? Then what are you worried about?" Eddie asked, loosening his grip on her hands. "Well..." her voice trailed off before she changed the subject, "Hey, it's really dark out here and we don't know who might be nearby, we should probably find somewhere to stay after we loot that corpse back by the tree." She wasn't exactly wrong, there was always the risk of people who lost their home and belongings from the war to be sneaking around, waiting to kill people for food. Eddie and Rachel would do this when coming across a thief or a killer, that way their consciences could at least rest easy when eating the food or using the money they stole. While they were good at defending themselves, they were only really able to kill when they weren't always in sight. Despite their skills, they were still 13-year-olds so an adult could easily overpower them, even when armed sometimes. Under their current circumstance, some people might have left after hearing gunshots but it made the dangerous people curious.

"Yeah, you're right," Eddie said, looking back up the hill, "Hmm, if he has a small enough shoe size, I could probably stuff some cloth in the toes and give you my boots." Rachel blinked, "Really?" She hadn't known Eddie for long but she did know that he had a problem with sharing his things, he never gave her a lot of details as to why. Although, he had given her the red scarf she wore after they met. Even so, she wasn't sure if he was serious. "Oh yeah, of course," he replied, pointing at her feet, "You still don't have any shoes and I don't think you want to amputate one of your feet if you step on something bad." Rachel shrugged, starting up the hill, "I guess so, but you don't have to give me yours, I can wear the boots we take from him." He followed after her, dragging his shovel, "I mean, I haven't compared foot sizes or anything but I'm pretty sure your feet are smaller than mine, it'll be better if you wear my boots, they're smaller than his." 

Rachel was about to reply but quickly closed her mouth, noticing the body was gone. "Woah, where'd he go?!" Eddie exclaimed in a hushed tone, looking around fretfully, "I hope he's not still alive somewhere-" Before he could finish his sentence, the sound of a gun went off and a bullet hit Eddie's right shoulder, he winced in pain, almost dropping his shovel. Rachel whipped her head around to see the man standing next to the tree, putting all his weight against it as he breathed heavily, his arm stained with red blood. "You little brats are gonna pay for my arm getting shot!" the man yelled, reloading his gun. Rachel's eyes widened before she quickly grabbed Eddie and pulled him behind her. "R-Rachel!" Eddie yelled, "Wait a second!" Rachel pulled the rifle off her shoulder and pointed it at their enemy, who was struggling to focus his shot due to blood loss. "You can't... hit me," he said, firing his gun, the bullet just nearly missed Rachel's head. She didn't move, she remained still, her cold fingers shaking as they tried to pull the trigger, but she was losing strength in her finger muscles. Eddie slowly put his hands on her shoulders and tried to urge her to move over, trying to avoid making any sudden movements now that a gun was pointed their way, but she didn't budge. Her heart was beating quickly as she continued trying to pull the trigger at the man, who also continued firing his gun, each bullet getting closer to hitting its target. After a deep breath, Rachel finally managed to pull the trigger, hitting her target in the head, killing him.

There was a moment of silence before Eddie and Rachel dropped to their knees in relief, breathing heavy. Eddie crawled to Rachel and sat next to her, "Are you alright?" he asked, studying her face. "Me?" she asked, looking at his shoulder, "What about you? You lost a tooth and you got shot in the arm." Eddie blushed in embarrassment, "Y-yeah... I'm getting just as bad as you at keeping myself intact." Rachel stared at him before starting to giggle, "Well, I'll stitch it up for you, so don't worry." He grinned, a gap in his teeth from the missing canine, "Thank you! You're so sweet~!" Rachel stood up, walking over to the corpse. "Do you think these will fit you?" she asked, gesturing towards the boots on the man's feet. Eddie stood, shakily and stumbled over, "Um... those might be a little too big even if I stuff cloth in them." Rachel sighed after glancing around, nothing useful to them was in sight, "Well, this was pointless..." Eddie tapped his shoulder and winced, clutching it tightly, "We... we should find somewhere bright to stay so you can fix my shoulder. I mean, you can't sew in the dark, right?" Rachel picked up his shovel, almost tripping due to the unexpected weight of it, "Right, sounds good."


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the incident in the last chapter, Eddie is going to need stitches. Rachel is going to have to get him back to their hide out safely.

Snow was gently falling down from the sky like powdered sugar as the boy cheerfully continued to dig into the cold earth, his red scarf was covering his mouth and nose in an attempt to keep his face warm. He could feel his fingertips going numb under his gloves and his cheeks and freckled nose were stinging from the cold but he persisted. Any job worth doing is worth doing well, after all. Besides, he enjoyed digging comfortable, custom-made resting places for those who didn't have one, and the war was making that the case for a lot of individuals. Even if his three brothers didn't want to help, he would be the one that people would come to for help. Unlike his brothers, he had a passion for this.

 

His focus was broken after the sweet sound of his mother beckoned for him to come inside for a warm bowl of soup. He nodded happily and covered his unfinished project with a sled he had laying handy to prevent snow from filling it up. His current customer was a small girl so the large sled was just big enough to cover the tiny hole he was digging for her.

 

As he trudged through the snow, he couldn't help but feel like he was being watched. He stopped in his tracks and looked over the vast amount of land owned by his family that was decorated with snow-topped rows of cleanly carved stones and frosted bouquets of flowers. Silence was disturbed only by the sound of the wind through the leafless trees and smooth, snowy landscape. Seeing that there was nothing to worry about, the boy shrugged and continued on his way to his house, looking forward to a warm bowl of soup with his five other family members.

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

Rachel wasn't very comfortable with the smell of blood, despite having no problem killing people when she had to, the scent that the bodies produced after death made her nauseous. She pinched her nose, trying not to gag at the smell of blood that the man she'd shot was now bathing in. "I don't think rolling him down the hill was a good idea... or the most respectful way of doing it," Eddie worriedly bit his lip, clutching his blood-soaked shoulder with his left hand, he personally wasn't bothered by the smell at all. "I know," she sighed, "I didn't mean to do that... or to let his arm get cut off by that sword that was stuck in the ground on his pathway down." 

 

"Well... I mean, there really wasn't any way you could've known the sword would be there, right? It's close in color to the dirt and it's really dark out here, it blended right into the environment," Eddie said with a supportive chirp in his voice. Even when his shoulder was burning with pain he still managed to find a way to sound positive, which was something Rachel admired a little when looking at her usual way of handling bad situations, or really any situation by simply stating the facts of the matter, no sugarcoated words, just the truth.

 

"I guess so," she sighed, letting out a warm puff of air from her lips as she stood up from her crouched position next to the body, "If we come back tomorrow then we can bury him." Eddie's eyes lit up and he would've hummed a cheerful tune if not for the pain that was now spreading to his chest from the more immense pain in his shoulder. He looked up at the dark clouds that were forming above them, "Rachel... do you really think it'll snow tonight?" She shrugged in response, pulling the sword out of the ground which now had a stream of blood running down it from the incident earlier, "I'm not sure but if it does then we can't go back to the hideout, otherwise we'll leave footprints when we leave tomorrow." Eddie's gaze shifted from the sky to meet Rachel's, his expression changing to a wistful one as he placed his blood-covered left hand to his heart, "Oh, but I wouldn't mind being stuck there if you're there to keep me company! It'd be nice to be all cozy together next to a fire or something cute like that." The idea urged him to almost place a hand to his cheek out of adoration, but quickly decided he didn't want blood on his face. His words caused Rachel's cheeks to turn pink, although her expression indicated she wasn't that pleased, "Eddie, I'm being serious, that's a really bad idea." Eddie's heart sank a little and he looked at the ground, squeezing his shoulder, he knew Rachel was right but he didn't want to stay somewhere unfamiliar, he had finally gotten accustomed to life in their little hidden home, he felt safe there and the idea of having to go anywhere else for safety broke off the last piece of his positive mask.

 

Eddie felt the small warmth of a tear slowly fill his eyelid before it ran down his cold cheek, which quickly stung after coming into contact with the cold air. Rachel bit her tongue, she knew she'd been too blunt with him again, he was already in pain so naturally he'd be sensitive. Her inexperience with socializing had definitely cost her the ability to comfort people the way she wanted to. Unsure of what to do, she stood quietly just a couple feet away from him before deciding to mimic his methods of comfort, she took a step closer and patted his shoulder awkwardly, causing him to look up at her with slight confusion. "We can... we can try going there tonight, but if it snows then you'll need to be prepared to be hungry for a few days since we'll have to wait for a while until we can get more food," she said, immediately driving her fingernails into her thumb behind her back out of frustration. Although her comment had still been fairly negative, Eddie smiled, "Ah! Thank you, Rachel! I promise I won't complain at all about food! I'm used to sharing small portions anyway so it's really no problem for me at all." He paused for a moment, "You're okay with it, right? You weren't just agreeing to cheer me up, right?" She secretly felt a rush of relief after his mood changed back to a happy one, but remained as calm as ever, "I don't mind, I'm just worried about the snow, is all." He leaned his clean shoulder against hers as he smiled sweetly, "Oh, well don't worry about being cold because I'll do my best to help you stay warm!" She nodded, a little pink in the face, "Yes, thank you."

 

Rachel wondered what exactly it was that he liked about her so much. They'd known each other for three months, only a month after that and suddenly he's complimenting her, comforting her, and offering to protect her when he knew fully well that she knew how to protect herself just as much as he did. It wasn't that she necessarily minded the attention, even if she wasn't always sure how to react or what to say, his kind and gentle behavior towards her was pleasant, especially since she wasn't all too familiar with this kind of thing being directed at her. A small part of her wondered if it was just because he was lonely, he never really talked about his life before he met her (besides how much it had improved since) so she didn't know what his living situation was like. He didn't seem to be an only child or an eldest sibling, he was much too clingy, like a last or middle born. While he was fairly responsible for his age, he could also be rather childish and carefree, so he was likely a middle born. So if she were to go with the assumption that he was used to having a large family where he was neither the baby or the oldest, he was probably used to having many people around him every day, so now that he was alone, he was clinging to her like a lost puppy. At least, that's what Rachel could gather. Still though, that didn't explain how attached to her he seemed to be when she rarely gave very emotional verbal feedback to his sweet gestures. Even if he was lonely, surely he should have been bored of her at this point, she wasn't exactly the most talkative person.

 

Rachel sighed as they started on their way down the path they'd memorized: pass the twisty tree, around that rock, go through that area, etc. In order to never lose their way, they started memorizing the most memorable objects around their hideout, they each had a little list they carried around which had each object listed with a number depending on how close it was to the destination. Of course, these lists were hidden on their person to prevent just anyone from getting their hands on them. 

 

After a while of walking a little into the woods, they eventually reached a large tree with vines creeping up it. If you were to look up, all you'd see were leafs and branches stretching over the sky, only small beams of moonlight shining through. Rachel quickly made her way to the trunk of the tree and shuffled through the vines in search of the length of rope they'd hidden in there, which was to prevent intruders from climbing it. Her hand searched the bark for longer than usual behind the thick vines until she finally managed to locate it. "What's wrong, Rachel? Was it stuck?" Eddie asked, puzzled as to why it took her so long to find it. "Well, it wasn't where I placed it before," she responded in a soft voice, "But maybe I'm just remembering wrong."

 

It was a struggle, but Rachel managed to help Eddie climb up the tree without falling, sweating a little in exhaustion from the long climb. They scrambled up to a branch and sat down, just above them was the latch door that led into their hideout, which was an abandoned tree house that they discovered a few weeks back. Rachel glanced at Eddie, "Are you alright?" His face looked flushed and pale, like he needed to vomit any second and he was clutching his shoulder which was bleeding more than before. "I'm alright, Rachel," he smiled, weakly, "It hurts but I'm used to it. I lost an eye, remember? That hurt a lot more." She frowned, "That doesn't mean you're alright." Eddie didn't respond, he knew she'd notice he wasn't okay but he didn't want her to worry, he just wanted things to be happy. After a few moments of silence, Rachel spoke up, "Lets go inside and fix your shoulder, alright?" 

 

It was unexpectedly easy to push the door open which was entirely due to the fact that the hinges were broken, the strange part was that they weren't broken when they left. This was concerning enough without the fact that the lantern and lighter they usually left laying by the door had been kicked aside. Rachel helped Eddie climb into the dark room before carefully feeling around for the lantern. Her finger touched something sharp and she bit her tongue instead of letting out a sound of pain, so as not to worry the already weakened Eddie. She discovered that the glass on the lantern had been shattered upon finally being able to light it, as light filled the room, she realized that wasn't the only thing that had been destroyed. Sheets that they used as curtains to keep the cold out had been ripped down, their supply boxes had been destroyed and several things were missing just at a glance. Rachel gritted her teeth, "Great." Eddie paid none of it any mind as he dropped his shovel before shuffling over to the mattress they had laid out on the floor and curled up on it, squeezing his eyes shut, he looked like a little stray cat that had just been pulled out of a dog fight. Rachel looked at him, sympathetically before searching the room for her sewing kit, their water supply, a lighter, and a pot of water. "Beep boop," said a static version of Eddie's voice inside a box. Rachel glanced behind her to see that he had grabbed one of the walkie talkies that had been in arms reach from his spot on the mattress. She turned to the box and pulled out the other one, pressing down the the button to speak, "Yes?" A weak whisper came through from Eddie, "Can you see my radio?" She looked around, shuffling through piles of knocked over books and tools (an odd combination but you collect a lot of odd things when trying to live casually during a war), "I don't see it, I'm sorry." This time he didn't speak through the walkie talkie, all Rachel could hear was a sad sigh from across the room, it was enough to make her feel guilty, even if she wasn't the one who shot him. 

 

Eddie hated losing his things, he was always protective of all of his belongings and the fact that most of them had probably just been stolen, never to be seen again, was draining him almost as quickly as the blood was from his body. Rachel didn't know where his things had been taken, but she did know what would cheer him up. She pressed the button on the walkie talkie, "Eddie, what was that 'beep boop' thing you said earlier?" He slowly pressed the button, his eye was glassy as he used the least amount of effort possible to bring the walkie talkie to his mouth, "I dunno... I dunno, Rachel... I just... dunno... I thought it'd be funny but... it's not... I feel sick..." She took a step closer to where Eddie was laying, looking out the window, "It was very cute though." She waited for him to say something like "Oh, Rachel, you're so sweet and kind" or "Oh, Rachel, thank you so much" but he didn't respond. After a few moments, she looked over at him. His face had brightened significantly and his eyes lit up, he still looked ill but he was blushing a little bit. "You think... it was cute?" his weak voice cracked a little as he tried to speak louder than he was capable of in his current state. Rachel felt a pain in her chest, it felt tight, like something was being twisted. She was concerned, but much more so for Eddie. She gave him her best smile, she couldn't tell how genuine it looked, but it sure did feel genuine, "Yes, just like you are."

 

If not for the fact that he was beginning to bleed to death on a mattress, he probably would've squealed and squished her with a hug, but instead he just slowly brought his head to his knees while curled up. "You're a good person, you deserve to be happy, not scared of or hurt by mean people," his weak voice was shaking a little. Rachel bit her lip, maybe she had upset him more. She stood immobile, looking around the room for something to help before realizing that there was still something more urgent: the bleeding. She dashed over to her first aid supply and searched the bag, taking things out and throwing them behind her. After everything was on the floor, her blood ran cold. Eddie had been watching as Rachel lost more and more of her composure, "Rachel, what's wrong?" 

 

"It's gone... my sewing kit," she replied, her throat tightening up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry that these chapters are a little short, I'm busy with college so my stories end up being not as long as I wish they were.


End file.
